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You receive a "The upgrade patch cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service" message when you try to install a Windows SharePoint Services update on a computer that is running the original release version of Windows SharePoint Services

If you are a Small Business customer, find additional troubleshooting and learning resources at the Support for Small Business site.

You cannot install a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services update on a computer that is running the original release version of Windows SharePoint Services. When you try to do this, you receive the following message:

The upgrade patch cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service because the program to be upgraded may be missing, or the upgrade patch may update a different version of the program. Verify that the program to be upgraded exists on your computer and that you have the correct upgrade patch.

The original release version of Windows SharePoint Services does not have built-in functionality that lets you install updates such as hotfixes. Therefore, you cannot install a Windows SharePoint Services update such as a hotfix on a computer that is running the original release version of Windows SharePoint Services. Before you install a Windows SharePoint Services update, you must first install Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 1 (SP1).

This condition is an exception to the Microsoft Support Life-Cycle policy for service packs. This condition applies only to the original release version of Windows SharePoint Services. The typical Microsoft Support Life-Cycle policy will apply to future service packs and to future versions of Windows SharePoint Services.

To resolve this issue, install Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 1 (SP1).
For additional information about Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 1, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Note When you deploy Windows SharePoint Services, we recommend that you include Windows SharePoint Services SP1 as part of your deployment plan. By doing this, you can apply Windows SharePoint Services updates to your new installations of Windows SharePoint Services.